Anything goes (so long proprietary peripherals) (PS3 delight #002)

Microsoft's been doing the talking, Sony is doing the walking. PlayStation 3 is the console for those that value choice. From a standard three-pronged power chord to a standard hard drive bay, Sony's hardware is compatible with a vast range of products, including additional operating systems (e.g., Linux).

Already own a USB headset? What about a web cam? As Microsoft forces us to buy into -- often inferior -- proprietary devices, Sony welcomes us to use those peripherals we might already have lying around. Bravo!

Oh...wait. You don't NEED a USB headset with the 360. It will work with any cellphone headset. And wait, I can plug in an iPod? How proprietary. Wait, what do I really need a keyboard for if I have nice and easy voice chat throughout EVERY game. And I don't have some ridiculous cellphone keypad.

The Xbox Camera is the only proprietary device... and I guess the wireless headset...

So now I HAVE to go buy a USB Keyboard to type efficiently on the PS3. I HAVE to go buy a USB headset to talk... if anybody will talk back. And I care about next-gen gaming, not Linux. Seriously.

Wow, what a fanboy article. Seriously I mean, if the article was solely about the benefits of Sony's compatibility with random peripherals that's fine, but why is it more focused on "as opposed to MS who MAKES us buy INFERIOR proprietary stuff." Get over it already. Have fun with your PS3 and stellar launch lineup. I'm gonna play some Gears, peace.

...all of that stuff is USESLESS with the PS3. Sure, it will plug in and be recognized, but what use is any of it?

- The headset is for internet chat; we all know Sony's online plans are still largely up in the air and cryptic, AT BEST

- Webcam? ALSO only useful over the internet. So how exactly will that work on the PS3? Nobody knows.

- The keyboard would only be useful for browsing...which is highly restricted on the PS3 (sorry, but you won't be viewing porn on your console). For chat purposes, it's 100% useless, unless your're a PC freak/geek. Who wants to sit on their couch with a keyboard in their lap? If you own a 360, you can simply create a voicechat session, and talk all you want, hands -free...or start up a game, without interupting the chat. Sorry Sony fans...your PS3 can't/won't do that. :o

UNFORTUNATELY. In the waiting area for Resistance: FOM, it only offers text chat. So trying to chat ANYTHING to someone in your party takes about 5 minutes. Freakin' ridiculous. The keyboard is very useful even though it shouldn't be.

I had to coordinate a Resistance Custom game over my cellphone the other day. Now THAT is Next-Gen.

Joystiq being Sony fanboys is definitely a new one for me. They're just saying some things that they like about the console. They have many different articles talking about what they don't like. I never thought I'd be defending Joystiq, but that's besides the point.

Why having the above good features are a bad thing, I don't know. Most of the issues you all are mentioning above will be fixed in later updates I'm sure. It took MS a while to come out with the background downloading, or a lot of their other fixes. Let's just give Sony a little bit of time. By the time I'm able to actually find a console, a lot of the complaints will probably have been fixed already.

Having the PS3 without Blu-ray would be sort of like having the X360 without that expensive Xenos... Ofcourse, being biased to some degree as you are, you would defend that by saying that Xenos is an integral part of the console -- strangely the exact same argument Sony and PS3 fanboys use for Blu-Ray...

It's not mysteriously gonna be taken out of the PS3, so lets find a new subject please...

hardrive and web-cam yeah your have to use ms's but it will except several different headset's and you don't have to use the battery-packs you can just use your own rechargeables batteries you can view photo's just by plugging in your camera it will recognise most types, and HD movies can now be viewed from a standard DVD once converted to WMV many usb item's work very well like mp3's stream while you do other things hell the 360 even plays a Sony format SACD

First, ANY headset with a mini-plug will work on 360...AT LEAST MS starts you off with one.

Second, the Web Cam WORKS on a PC as well!

Thirdly, Bluetooth and Blu Ray are NOT STANDARD as well--else you'd see them on the Wii as well as EVERY PC/MAC.

Forthly, you DO need a PC but you don't need Vista or Media Center to view photos. You CAN connect your digital camera/iPod directly to 360 OR stream it from ANY PC (which is where most people keep their pictures stored at :o ). Same w/HD movies BIATCH.

FINALLY, all a standard hdd does is INVITE hackers.

BTW I can use my controllers on a PC...can you use your PS3 motion sickness stick on a PC?

In fact the whole X360 system is designed for creating extra revenue streams for MS:

- Harddisk - proprietary MS (True, but not really. First, the ACTUAL DISC, is a standard HDD; the difference is, MS uses a tamper-proof (unless you're a modder) case, where Sony does not. However, as soon as you replace your PS3 HDD with a non-PS3 OEM HDD...your warranty is VOIDED.) - Webcam - proprietary MS (Not really; it works with any PC as well, as a webcam, but the game functionality is for 360 only....just like with the EyeToy) - Headset - proprietary MS (No, any headset will work with it, but the volume controls on the adapter only work with the 360 headset) - Rechargeable batterypacks - not standard (Wrong...AGAIN; the 360 controller will take ANY batteries...unlike the SuxaxiS, which uses NON-REPLACEABLE batteries. Oh my... - Online gaming - gotta pay MS (True...and it's well worth the $4.16/month; by comparison, Sony's online is free, yet pretty much WORTHLESS) - View photos - buy MS Vista or MediaCenter (Um...NO; the recent update did away with that) - View HD movies - buy proprietary MS (Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Blu-Ray "proprietary" with the PS3 as well? Of course, you don't have a CHOICE in the matter. Hmmmm....)

- Harddisk - proprietary MS It doesn't matter that the actual disc is standard, as you can't install it. The casing is there to make you pay the MS tax. And btw, your warranty is not voided if you install another one on the PS3 -- the instructions are in the manual and an installer is provided.

- Webcam - proprietary MS Yep, it is proprietary. You can't use any other USB webcam. MS has made sure you can use it with other MS products (like XP) but I can't use it with my Mac -- it is proprietary and of pretty bad quality.

- Headset - proprietary MS My mistake -- it should have said Wireless Headset. It is proprietary as it uses MS proprietary wireless tech. Bluetooth is an industry standard and widely used in everything from your cellphone to PC (and Mac's). Not all the drivers are there yet for the PS3, but a lot are, and the rest will be.

- Rechargeable batterypacks - not standard Rechargeable batterypacks are NOT standard -- they ARE standard on the PS3 though. If you want rechargeable batteries, you have to acquire them at an extra cost, and MS encourages you to buy theirs, as they bring the extra features like longer gametime between charges and shorter charging time.

PS3 solution: Put it in the box. Just connect the provided cable for 1 1/2 hour and you are fully charged for 30 hours of gaming. Btw, if you play 4 hours every single day of the year, the battery should last approx. 10 years -- that is why Sony does the free exchange if it run down, as they know they will probably never have to do it.

- Online gaming - gotta pay MS All report off Sony online gaming has been it is great and just about as lagfree as XBL. Ofcourse not all the extra features of XBL are there, but you don't pay that MS tax...

- View photos - buy MS Vista or MediaCenter I haven't installed the update yet -- I'll probably have to try that out then. It was very annoying before. Just read up on it though: You still CAN'T put any media on X360 harddrive -- what is up with that? I don't wan't my PC AND my X360 running just to show family photos and no, I don't want to have yet another auxillary device connected to it either. All I want to do, is copy my family photos once, and that is it!

- View HD movies - buy proprietary MS HD-DVD is not proprietary (as well as Blu-Ray isn't either), but you have to buy the MS HD-DVD drive to get it to work. You can't just buy a non-proprietary HD-DVD drive and connect. Ofcourse on the PS3 the Blu-ray drive is standard, so that is a non-issue. If you want to watch HD-DVD on the PS3 I'm actually quite unsure what will be needed, but the same goes for Blu-ray on the X360. My conclusion -- for nextgen HD movieplayback on the X360, you HAVE to pay the MS tax. And you do have the choice on the PS3, as you can just decide not to use it.

- If you install a non-Sony HDD, you will effectively void your warranty. Sure, Sony isn't going to tell you that, but if that HDD fails and/or crashes your system, do you really think they won't back out on liability? Get real.

- The 360 Vision cam IS NOT a standard webcam. It's primarily designed for 360 video-chat during games (something the PS3 won't do), facial mapping and other interactive gaming features. Does the EyeToy work with a PC? NO. Is the EyeToy even a WEBCAM? NO. Therefore, Sony is, in fact allowing people to use ANY webcam with the PS3, because their EyeToy ISN'T ONE. See the difference?

-The wireless headset just came out...and there are non-proprietary wireless products by NYKO and Logitech coming to the 360 later. MS is just now getting alot of accessories to market, so obviously you wouldn't have seen anything else available before now.

-How dense can you be? THE WIRELESS CONTROLLERS TAKE REG-U-LAR BAT-TER-IES. I bought about 8 extra AA batteries for my Energizer Rechargeable Battery station, when I got my 360. I've been using those SAME BATTERIES for a YEAR now. The Play-n-charge kit is a useless accessory...nothing more; MS isn't forcing ANYBODY to buy it. But, you still dodge the fact that 1.) the SuxaxiS doesn't HAVE replaceable batteries, and 2.) the PS3 doesn't even have an optional wired controller, for those that prefer wired. And no...the battery won't last "10 years"...hell the CONTROLLER won't even last 5.

-I don't know where you're IMAGINING you've read such things, but R:FOM is the ONLY game that's really been given play time on Sony's network. MOST developers have either had to leave online play out of the PS3 versions of their games ALTOGETHER, or delay the game, until Sony decides what the hell they're going to do. There is no video chat. There is no open voice-chat. There is no unified friends list and/or message/invite solution. There is no cross-game invite solution.

- Considering you can jack into one of the 3 USB points with ANY USB DRIVE, I'm sure they felt it was overkill to allow you to dump files on the HDD as well....and they were right. If you don't own a USB flashdrive, you're living in the dark ages, I'm afraid. I've been displaying pics on my 55" Sony HDTV, via my 360, from DAY ONE...simply by plugging my SanDisk 1GB USB thumbdrive into one of the front USB ports.

- "If you want to watch HD-DVD on the PS3 I'm actually quite unsure what will be needed, but the same goes for Blu-ray on the X360. My conclusion -- for nextgen HD movieplayback on the X360, you HAVE to pay the MS tax. And you do have the choice on the PS3, as you can just decide not to use it. "

Guess what? If you DO "decide not to use it"...YOU'VE STILL PAID FOR IT! If you decide you're not ready for HD-DVD yet, with the 360, YOU HAVE THAT CHOICE. Wow...I can't believe how ignorant you're being. :o

you xbox fanboys are so funny. ::giggle:: sorry guys, sony is superior as far as technology goes and using things people already have rather than giving more money to MS. i alread owned every addon i could possibly have for a ps3 before the ps3 was announced. a webcam: check multiple digi camera memory card formats: check a bluetooth headset for my cell: check w wirless usb and keyboard: check extra 2.5" hard drives around: check

as for my 360... i had to buy and buy addons.. and keep buying them. and it's BS.

I have not bought any new things for my Xbox 360, and I have played easily and happily. The same can NOT be said for my PS3. I need to go buy a keyboard. I need to go buy a USB headset or a Bluetooth headset. Which are not cheap. I am hoping I don't need extra friggin hard drives.

Are you picking up what I am putting down? I spent $400.00 for a system, and my games, and I have not bought anything else. And it is awesome. I don't need anything else. I can't say that for my $600.00 PS3. I even had to buy my own HDMI cord, for the love of God!

...wise up, and sell your PS3 while you can still make money. It's OBVIOUS you're 2nd-guessing your purchase, so why torture yourself? Sell it, make a tidy $400-$600 profit, and wait for the PS3 to drop in price, and get some games...around NEXT X-mas.

If you choose Sony, you can be sure you get choice which peripherals you can later buy or you can use the stuff you already have. With MS that's a whole different story. If you choose MS, you should be ready for getting ripped off. There is no choice in the peripherals and you have to buy these ridiculously overpriced MS products. $99 for a 20GB HDD is ridiculous, you normally get 40GB for $49. $99 for Wi-Fi is same as ridiculous, you normally get such an adapter for $49 or less. Also MS fanboys like to say Sony is forcing Blu on the PS3 buyers and MS gives them choice. I'm really askin me what choice. Are there 2 360 versions? 1 with dvd and the another one with hd-dvd? Nope. So as sad as it is there is again no choice. Many people want a system with a next gen drive and don't wanna waste money for yet another dvd drive. And do any of you remember how all the MS fanboys and press dissed Sony for the 20GB PS3 not having HDMI? Well it looks like it backfired on them and we on the other side got HDMI on the 20GB PS3. I'm really askin me where is now all the bad press regarding the hd-dvd addon? Why is MS getting a free ride? Is the whole press really that subjective? I'm really askin me what the hell is going on that even the press act like some fanboys.

Far out the article was just layiing out the facts, that the ps3 is compatiable with basically any third party device (the ones mentioned)... 360 fanboys should get of their high horse, and relax.... stop trying to make inferior excuses to try an make the 360 somehow better because it does not do what the PS3 does... accept defeat (on this ground) move on with ur crummy little ms lives... the end

Howard Stringer, you have a problem. Your company’s new video game system just isn’t that great.

Ever since Mr. Stringer took the helm last year at Sony, the struggling if still formidable electronics giant, the world has been hearing about how the coming PlayStation 3 would save the company, or at least revitalize it. Even after Microsoft took the lead in the video-game wars a year ago with its innovative and powerful Xbox 360, Sony blithely insisted that the PS3 would leapfrog all competition to deliver an unsurpassed level of fun.

Put bluntly, Sony has failed to deliver on that promise.

Measured in megaflops, gigabytes and other technical benchmarks, the PlayStation 3 is certainly the world’s most powerful game console. It falls far short, however, of providing the world’s most engaging overall entertainment experience. There is a big difference, and Sony seems to have confused one for the other.

The PS3, which was introduced in North America on Friday with a hefty $599 price tag for the top version, certainly delivers gorgeous graphics. But they are not discernibly prettier than the Xbox 360’s. More important, the whole PlayStation 3 system is surprisingly clunky to use and simply does not provide many basic functions that users have come to expect, especially online.

I have spent more than 30 hours using the PlayStation 3 over the last week or so and may have played more different games on the system - 13 - than probably anyone outside of Sony itself. Sony did not activate the PS3’s online service until just before the Friday debut. Over the weekend a clear sense of disappointment with the PlayStation 3 emerged from many gamers.

“What’s weird is that the PS3 was originally supposed to come out in the spring, and here it came out in the fall, and it still doesn’t feel finished,” Christopher Grant, managing editor of Joystiq, one of the world’s biggest video-game blogs, said on the telephone Saturday night. “It’s really not the all-star showing they should have had at launch. Sony is playing catch-up in a lot of ways now, not just in terms of sales but in terms of the basic functionality and usability of the system.”

Sadly for Sony, the best way to explain how the PlayStation 3 falls short is to explain how different it is to use than its main competition, Xbox 360. When I reviewed the 360 last year, I wrote: “Twelve minutes after opening the box, I had created my nickname, was in a game of Quake 4 and thought, ‘This can’t be this easy.’ ”

I never felt that way using the PlayStation 3. With the PS3, 12 minutes after opening the box I realized that Sony inexplicably does not include cables to connect the machine to a high-definition television. Keep in mind that one of Sony’s main selling points has been that the PS3 plays Blu-Ray high-definition movie discs. But high-definiton cables? Sold separately. The Xbox 360, by contrast, ships with one cable that can connect to either a standard or high-definition set.

Then, before you are even using the PS3, you have to connect the “wireless” controller to the base unit with a USB cable so they can recognize each other. If you bring your PS3 controller to a friend’s house, you’ll have to plug back in again. The 360’s wireless controllers are always just that, wireless.

If there is one thing one would expect Sony to get perfect, though, it would be music. Wrong. Sure, you can plug in your digital music player and the PS3 will play the tunes. But as soon as you go into a game, the music stops. By contrast, one of the things I’ve always enjoyed most on the Xbox 360 is being able to listen to my own music while playing Pebble Beach or driving my virtual Ferrari. Doesn’t seem too complicated, but the PS3 can’t do it.

In that sense it often feels as if the PlayStation 3 can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. In the PS3’s online store (which feels like a slow Web page) you can access movie trailers and trial versions of new games, but when you actually download the 600-megabyte files, you’ll be stuck watching a progress bar crawl across the screen for 20 or 40 minutes. Astonishingly, you can’t download in the background while you go do something that’s more fun (like play a game). On the Xbox 360, not only are files downloaded seamlessly in the background, but you can also shut off the machine, turn it on later, and the download will resume automatically.

The PS3’s whole online experience feels tacked-on and unpolished. On the Xbox 360 each user has a single unified friends list, so you can track your friends and communicate with them easily, no matter what game you are in. On the PlayStation 3 most games have their own separate friends list and some have no friends function at all. There is a master list as well, but in order to communicate with anyone on it, you have to quit the game you are playing.

There are some high points. The multi-player battles in Resistance: Fall of Man are excellent. The arcade-style action in the downloadable Blast Factor is suitably frantic.

But the list of the PS3’s disappointments remains, from its undersupported voice chat to its maddening cellphone-like text messaging system. (In frustration I ended up plugging in a USB keyboard.) Overall, Sony seems to have put a lot of effort into cramming as much silicon horsepower under the hood as possible but to have forgotten that all the transistors in the world can’t make someone smile.

And so it is a bit of a shock to realize that on the video game front Microsoft and Sony are moving in exactly the opposite directions one might expect given their roots. Microsoft, the prototypical PC company, has made the Xbox 360 into a powerful but intuitive, welcoming, people-friendly system. Sony’s PlayStation 3, on the other hand, often feels like a brawny but somewhat recalcitrant specialized computer. (Sony is even telling users to wait for future software patches to fix some of the PS3’s deficiencies.) The thing is, if people want to use a computer, they’ll use a computer.

Through the decades of the Walkman and the Trinitron television, Sony was renowned as the global master of easy-to-use, seamlessly powerful consumer electronics. But recently Sony seems to have lost its way, first in digital music players, in which it ceded the ergonomic high ground to Apple’s iPod, and now in home-game consoles. For now Sony’s technologists seem to have won out over the people who study fun.

As a practical matter, given the limited quantities Sony has been able to manufacture, the PlayStation 3 will surely remain sold out throughout the holiday season. If you can’t find one, don’t fret. Sony still has a lot of work to do. As Mr. Grant of Joystiq put it: “Maybe in six months it’ll be finished. Maybe by next fall I’ll be able to do all the cool stuff. I’m still kind of waiting.”

And I don't see your point, as it doesn't mention anything about proprietary peripherals.

My guess is, you are trying to derail the discussion with completely unrelated arguments -- what a pathetic thing to do...

I'll play along for a minute, although this discussion should've been on the thread for that article...

1. He looks at the PS3 from a X360 gamers perspective (which most are not). 2. He completely disregards the clear advantages of the PS3 (as he is looking at it from a X360 gamers perspective). 3. Some of his arguments work against the X360 as well (as i.e. the text messaging on the X360). 4. He fails to mention that most of the features he highlights against the PS3 were only available on a subsequent recent update for the X360, and they will probably be corrected on the PS3 as well. 5. He was for some unknown reason very slow at unpacking his PS3, but forgets to mention HD cables are only provided for the Premium X360, and you don't have a choice of HD cabling on the X360 (as you have on the PS3) which halfway explains why it wasn't included in the box. 6. He is probably right, that the PS3 is the more technological advanced of the two (as supported by iSuppli). 7. He is completely right, that at launch, the PS3 experience doesn't beat the X360 experience by a considerable margin -- if at all.

Oh... and he wisely doesn't mention, that to get the X360 experience he is talking about, you would have to pay atleast $450 when bought and $50 each subsequent year of use, while the Sony PS3 will cost you a one-off $500 -- and then you have the extra benefit of a Blu-ray movieplayer, mediafunctionality etc. thrown in for free.